Desire: A Novel Part 5

My mind was expanding with all this information it was trying to take in. I sat down, and looked at the computer screen. Thankfully the booking program looked pretty straightforward.

"You'd also be surprised how many women we get here too."

Wow. Women? That did surprise me.

"You just watch tonight. You'll pick up a lot from just observing." Emily smiled sympathetically at my overwhelmed expression.

Emily was right. By the end of my s.h.i.+ft, I'd learned so much. Dennis was a regular who came in twice a week to see Carrie. He liked just a basic girlfriend experience, and they usually just watched a movie, followed by some kissing, and a bit of touching. I was surprised when Emily told me they hadn't had s.e.x yet.

All that money for a movie? Surely there were cheaper ways to take a girl out. Hadn't he heard of internet dating?

Todd, on the other hand, was also a regular who was right into submissive play. His favorites were Maya and Kim, and he was known to have both girls together on occasion. He liked to be tied up, gagged and verbally abused while his girl of choice touched herself. Or each other.

There was a total of about ten clients over the course of my s.h.i.+ft, all but two were regulars. The first newbie was Bryan. I watched with interest as Emily walked over to introduce herself.

"h.e.l.lo." She began warmly, "I'm Mari. Do you have an idea of what you're after tonight?" Bryan mumbled something about s.e.x. I felt sorry for the guy. He looked to be in his late thirties, and I was pretty sure he was a virgin. "Well we can definitely help you with that." She flipped open the portfolio. "Tonight we have Laura, Cara, and Steph available."

Bryan pointed at Steph.

"Wonderful choice. Steph has many special skills with her tongue, but you'll find out all about that." She winked, causing poor Bryan to blush profusely. She led him over to me at the desk.

"This is Bambi. She will help you with your payment."

Bambi? Oh good G.o.d, anything but Bambi. I shot Emily a look, who smiled at me innocently, batting her eyelashes.

"Right. I'm, uh, Bambi." I began, tapping in the details on the payment page. "That will be...$485?" I squeaked, glancing at Emily. She nodded. Holy s.h.i.+t. $485 for half an hour? That was some serious cash. After Bryan paid, Emily led him to a room, while I called Steph.

The girls had their own waiting room, decked out with plasma televisions, a pool table, sofas and even a kitchen. I waited nervously as the phone rang.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"Hi, this is Kait at reception. We have a new client for Steph in room four."

"Great, thanks Kait. I'll let her know."

By the end of the night, I was completely exhausted. There had been so much to remember, but I'd enjoyed myself much more than I ever thought I would have. The girls were lovely, and even the men weren't the creepy stalker type I had been expecting. Some were actually really cute and friendly.

"Hey, how did it go?" I jumped at the sound of Ara's voice. It was close to three in the morning when I got home, so I was surprised Ara was still up. She had her head in a book, but based on her excitement, I think she'd been waiting for me.

"Hi." I sat down on the couch, taking off my shoes. "It really wasn't that bad." I admitted, rubbing my feet. "Seriously." I added, seeing Ara's expression. "Everyone was nice."

"What were the guys like?" Ara's nose screwed up.

"They were nice." I said, chuckling at her expression. She'd obviously had the same misconceptions about the men that frequented brothels as I'd had. "There were a couple that looked like they lived at home with their parents, but some weren't bad looking. It's just their jobs don't allow them to meet women that easily." Ara didn't look convinced. I giggled. She'd make an awful escort.

"So listen, Neri and I had a pretty good chat." Ara changed the subject.

"Yeah?" I felt a pang of jealously. My best friend had a better relations.h.i.+p with my sister than I did. I tried to push the feelings aside, knowing I should be happy she was opening up to someone. My biggest worry was that she'd bottle everything up, and eventually lose it. "How is school? Is she settling in okay?"

"Good. She likes it. She's made a couple of friends already. She's pretty hot and heavy for this Jeremy guy though." Ara raised her eyebrows. "What do you know about this guy?"

I groaned. Just what I needed. If Neri took after me at all, then she was probably sleeping with Jeremy already.

Had mom had the *chat' with her at all? Did I need to? That would be an exciting conversation I couldn't wait to partic.i.p.ate in.

"I guess I will talk to her then." I sighed. "Devon came over today."

"The cop?"

I grinned and nodded. "He is so hot, Ara. I turn into a pool of mush around him. I even imagine his hands on me. Inside me..." I sighed dreamily.

"Oh eww! Kait! Way too much info." Ara shook her head viciously, as if trying to shake the image from her head.

"What?" I protested. "If you saw him, you'd understand." I said, nodding knowingly, sitting back and throwing my feet over the arm of the chair.

"No news on mom, either." I added sadly. Ara was quiet.

"I'm sorry about your mom, Kait."

I shrugged. "Feel sorry for the kids. They're the ones suffering here. I don't really care. What?" I protested. Ara looked at me doubtfully. "I honestly don't. That probably makes me sound like the worst person in the world, but I moved on."

"I don't think feeling nothing is *moving on'." Ara rested her head on her arm. "I know you, Kait. No matter what happened before, no matter how much she hurt you. You love your mom."

The logical part of me knew she was right, but right now I couldn't deal with this conversation. I'd dealt with all this a long time ago. Bringing it all back up now wasn't going to help anyone.

"Thanks Ara, for minding the kids and everything. I'm pretty beat. I think I'll head to bed." I brushed over her hair with my hand as I walked past her. She gave me a half smile.

Chapter Nine.

Getting up after five hours sleep was hard.

Really hard.

I dragged myself out of bed and off into the shower.

"Morning guys." I yawned. Both Neri and Sam, who were up already, looked up and smiled at me.

"How did your new job go?" Neri asked, mouth full of cornflakes.

"It was good, thanks." I was pleasantly surprised by her interest. "I think I will like it there." Neri nodded, and turned her attention back to her breakfast. "How is school going?"

She shrugged. "It's okay. I've made a couple of friends, which makes things easier."

"I love kinder." Sam piped up. I glanced at him and laughed. He had jelly all over his cheeks and his nose.

"I like to eat the middle first." He announced, picking up his piece of toast to demonstrate. Neri rolled her eyes while I chuckled.

I made myself a very strong coffee. I had a feeling I was going to need a lot of caffeine today.

After dropping the kids off, I came back home and collapsed on the couch. No sooner than I'd closed my eyes, my phone rang. Picking it up, I didn't recognize the number.

"h.e.l.lo."

"Kait. Hi. It's Devon Walkerson. How are you?"

"I'm good, thanks." I instantly noticed he sounded professional, formal even. Not the casual laid back Devon I'd encountered on our last few meetings. My body tensed, bracing itself for bad news. "What's up?"

"Do you know if your mother has any family or friends in Colorado?"

"Colorado?" I repeated. "I have no idea. No family, I know that much, but friends I'm not sure. Does she have any friends from home you could speak to? I haven't seen or spoken to her in so long..."

"Hmm. Okay. We've tried her friends and neighbors, nothing."

"Why are you asking? Have you found something?"

"Nothing confirmed, just a possible sighting of her at a roadhouse."

"Was she alone?" Devon was silent for a moment. There was my answer. "Who was she with?" The fact that she wasn't alone didn't really mean anything. I just couldn't get the feeling that she'd left willingly out of my mind.

"I can't really go into the details, Kait."

"Dev-"

"I have to go, if I hear anything else, I will let you know, okay?" He hung up before I could grill him for more information. I sighed, sitting upright on the sofa. As tired as I was, my mind was too worked up now, and chances of me getting any sleep now were pretty slim. I threw my jacket on, and grabbed my keys.

I was heading somewhere I never thought I would again. I was heading home.

I eased the car into the driveway of the house I grew up in. This house held so many memories for me, both good and bad, though mostly bad.

Walking around the front garden, not much had changed. The tree where I'd made a swing was still there, as was the rosebush marking the spot where I buried my pet rabbit, Peter. The lawn was in need of mowing, and cobwebs littered the window frames.

I felt about the doorframe for the spare key. Yes.

The door creaked as I opened it, as though it hadn't been opened in ages. Inside, the house felt empty. A thick layer of dust hung over the surfaces, and with the drawn blinds the place looked dark and stale.

I didn't know where to start.

h.e.l.l, I didn't even know what I was doing here. What exactly was I expecting to find?

The floorboards creaked as I made my way down the hall toward mom's room. With each step, my stomach lurched. Memories of hearing those floorboards creaking in the middle of the night came flooding back to me.

Inside mom's room, it was the same. The same dresser, the same wooden stained bed, and the same floral green curtains. The bed was made, and a pile of clothes sat neatly on the floor. Sitting down on the bed, I eased open the bedside drawer. The scent of mom's perfume hit me like a freight train. Tears picked my eyes as I shuffled through cards, and papers, something at the bottom of the drawer catching my eye. I reached in and brought out a ring.

Grandma's ring.

The yellow gold was worn, and the diamonds had lost their s.h.i.+ne, but it was the same ring mom would show me when I was a little girl. She used to tell me when I was old enough, I could have the ring. It would bring me luck. Maybe that was where I'd gone wrong all those years ago.

I shook my head and placed the ring on my finger.

The sound of the door opening, then closing brought me back to reality. Startled, I quickly shoved the large stack of papers back into the drawer. I crept out of the room, peering around the corner, and into the living room.

Devon.

My heart rate slowed and fastened simultaneously at the sight of him. Suddenly I felt lightheaded, as though I was going to faint. I stumbled toward the sofa. Collapsing on the floor in front of him would not be a s.e.xy look.

"Kait!" Devon's expression was both surprised and concerned. "Are you okay?" He grabbed my arm as I stumbled.

"Hi Devon, I'm fine." I fibbed, as he guided me to the sofa. His touch was distracting. How was I supposed to focus on breathing when he was right next to me, his strong tanned arms around me?

"W-what, uh, are you doing here?" s.h.i.+t. Now I was stuttering? My thoughts scattered around my brain like they'd just been put through a blender.

"I'm just making sure that forensics didn't miss anything. I was going to come and see you later." He added. Oh G.o.d. Now he was looking at me with those s.e.xy eyes.

"You were?" I managed to splutter as a lopsided grin spread across his face. "Why?" My voice was almost at a whisper.

Come on Kait! Snap out of it! I told myself.

Only I couldn't. All I could think about was what I'd do with this guy, a bottle of whipped cream and a pair of handcuffs.

"Before. On the phone. I wanted to apologize to you." All my s.e.xy feelings dissipated into thin air. Way to kill my mood.

"Right. That. No, that's fine, I get it. You can't tell me stuff that might interfere with the case."

"You're right, but I'm going to. I want to be honest with you." Devon sat down next to me, his knee almost touching mine. "Your mom was spotted at a roadhouse in Denver, with a man. We don't know for sure it was her, but two witnesses confirmed her ident.i.ty from a picture line-up."

"Wow. So you think she may have just up and left the kids?"

"We don't know, Kait. It's possible, but it is also possible there might be more to this." He reached out and touched my knee, causing me to jump. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." He stopped, watching wide eyed as I reached across the table and put my hand on his.

"I wasn't expecting it, that doesn't mean I didn't like it." I murmured softly. The silence between us was building in intensity when his phone rang. I pulled my hand away, not completely sure of what just happened.

"I better go anyway, I need to pick the kids up from school." I stood up before he could reply. Devon opened his mouth, before shutting it and nodding.

"I will speak to you soon, Kait."

Chapter Ten.